1.02.2010

Healthy and Whole

The beginning of a new year is generally a pretty exciting time. People are filled with hope and enthusiasm. Have you made any new year's resolutions? How did you mark the start of 2010? For today's "Healthy and Whole" entry, I'll share a list of 5 ways to usher in the new year that will feed your body, mind, and spirit.

1. Decorate your planner, journal, or notebook! Make a collage. Paint. Do whatever you'd like to do! Make it a true statement of who you are and who you want to be. Fill it with quotes, special words, and pictures. Here are my New Year's Day projects. My 2010 work planner and my new notebook.

2. Start listening to music in the morning as you get ready and at night before you go to bed. Create a mix of mellow/uplifting/meditative music. Pre-bedtime music is proven to help people sleep better. Here's a link about the statistics and here's a linkto a blog post recommending all sorts of fun Japanese music in your bedtime mix (I'd vote for including Helen Stellar's song "Io" - however, it is not Japanese).

3. Make a plan to read the Bible regularly (or another sacred text of your choosing). Here's a great articleto read all about how the Bible is funny it's okay to laugh about its silliness. The Bible certainly has humorous elements. It also has amazingly timeless wisdom. Another way to delve into Bible reading is by starting with a plan to "Read the Psalms" or "Read through the Gospel of Mark." Dig in! And don't be afraid to laugh.

4. Commit to 15 minutes a day of physical activity. Whether it's walking around your house or apartment, popping in a Leslie Sansone DVD, stretching, chasing your kids, doing squats over your lunch break, or kickboxing with a youtube.com video- it's totally up to you. Start with 15 minutes a day. We can do this! I know we can. And we'll feel better. 15 minutes is a beautiful starting point. If you're already doing more than that - great! Keep it up. If not - go for it! It's a new year. Our bodies love to move; let's take the first step.

5. Pray. Praying is mysterious. Sometimes when I pray, I think to myself, "I feel a little like I'm talking to myself." Other times when I pray, I feel like I'm having a one-on-one, face-to-face encounter with God. Prayer takes different forms. It can take the form of drawing, writing in a journal, taking a "thinking" walk, meditating silently, verbally praying out loud, or singing (and that's just the tip of the iceberg). "How does prayer really make a difference?" you might ask. Good question. My pastoral answer: through the mystery and grace of God. My personal answer: I have no idea how it works but I dare you to try it every day for one week. Think of prayer as conversation with God. It doesn't have to be: "Please help me with x, y, and z" (although it can be that). It could be: "I really feel like maybe life is x, y, and z...what do you think, God?" or "I'm pretty sad about _______ lately" or "I'm so thankful that _____ happened today." Daily prayer is my personal goal for 2010. I regularly forget to pray (eeek - inept pastor alert). I pray with and for another people, but I totally forget to pray when it comes to my own spiritual and life journey. Let's go for it in 2010, huh?

There's the list. We're going to grow and learn a lot this year. All-aboard for an unpredictable, fantastic journey.

3 comments:

Ahhh - what a joy your blog continues to be in my life.This post in particular was refreshing and inspiring.I've made a list of to many new year "to do's" and not enough refreshing hopes.Thanks for sharing yours!